Jezebel; and said that in the place where dogs licked the blood of

Naboth, dogs should also lick his blood--and he said, likewise, the dogs

should eat Jezebel by the wall of Jezreel. In the course of time, the

King was killed in battle, and when his chariot wheels were washed in the

pool of Samaria, the dogs licked the blood. In after years, Jehu, who

was King of Israel, marched down against Jezreel, by order of one of the

Prophets, and administered one of those convincing rebukes so common

among the people of those days: he killed many kings and their subjects,

and as he came along he saw Jezebel, painted and finely dressed, looking

out of a window, and ordered that she be thrown down to him. A servant

did it, and Jehu's horse trampled her under foot. Then Jehu went in and

sat down to dinner; and presently he said, Go and bury this cursed woman,

for she is a King's daughter. The spirit of charity came upon him too

late, however, for the prophecy had already been fulfilled--the dogs had

eaten her, and they "found no more of her than the skull, and the feet,

and the palms of her hands."

Ahab, the late King, had left a helpless family behind him, and Jehu

killed seventy of the orphan sons. Then he killed all the relatives, and

teachers, and servants and friends of the family, and rested from his

labors, until he was come near to Samaria, where he met forty-two persons

and asked them who they were; they said they were brothers of the King of

Judah. He killed them. When he got to Samaria, he said he would show

his zeal for the Lord; so he gathered all the priests and people together

that worshiped Baal, pretending that he was going to adopt that worship

and offer up a great sacrifice; and when they were all shut up where they

622

The Innocents Abroad